10/29/2009

Gifts

Begin personal log, Thursday October 29th, 111.

Kimochi can be seen walking slowly through a corridor in a starship. She is wearing an electronic eye patch and a long black leather coat, trailing her gloved fingers of her left hand over the wall as she walks. The corridor is narrow and metallic with a red line running along it at about waist height, betraying the ship's Carthum design. Occasionally she passes members of the crew who greet her with a respectful nod. She take an electronic clipboard from a passing crew member and glances over the contents.

I had a few surprises last weekend. I figured it had been too long since I'd jacked into my pod, so I decided to help a few of the Ghosts clear our a Rogue Drone nest that had appeared in Goinard. I felt energized after smashing apart a few of the disgusting creatures with my Retribution's lasers, so when the call in our intel channel for assistance in taking down a Myrmidon a few jumps away was raised, I jumped into the Seraphim's Tears once more to go help out. The Myrmidon was completely overwhealmed of course, and I headed back to base with that warm glow you get after a successful kill.

She hands the clipboard back to the crew member and continues walking through the corridor, passing by a few windows displaying a view of a Gallentean hangar.

I decided to head to The Last Gate to relax a bit.. Ethan and Demetri were there and we had an interesting discussion about the merits of Battlecruisers and Command Ships. Recently I've run a few test simulations using an Absolution-class as the subject and I've had mixed success... The ship handles very well. It has very efficient defenses and it's firepower is certainly impressive. But I've noticed that it's possible to get a Harbinger to perform almost as well for a fraction of the cost!

I explained this to Ethan and Demetri who generally agreed with my opinion. Ethan did explain though that he happened to have a spare Absolution-class sitting in his hangar, and that he would sell it to me if I decided I wanted one. I thanked him for the offer and told him I'd contact him about it when I was ready.

The following morning I woke up to discover that an Absolution had been delivered to my hangar along with a full crew compliment, as well as a lovely note from Ethan explaining that he wanted me to have something to to work towards in the short term - a get well soon gift of sorts.

She smiles to herself as she finishes that sentence.

She's a beautiful ship, and the crew all seem to be pleased to be under my command... I don't honestly know what to say, it's probably the most expensive gift I've ever recieved! As grateful as I am, I'm not ready to fly her yet. I've been studying how to interface with a Command Ship systems and it's... Well, it's rather complicated. More complicated than any other ship I've ever flown, moreso even than some battleships - or so I'm told. I will need some time to learn how to make the most efficient use of her subsystems before I will feel confident undocking her. In the meantime I have a few modifications I need to have completed and of course she needs a name...

She comes to a large squareish portal in the wall connected to a corridor which is clearly of a different design to the rest of the ship - a docking umbilical. She walks inside towards the other end and part of the red and golden exterior of the huge command ship can be seen through the umbilical's windows.

Oh, and that reminds me... That same night I paid a visit to the Hellcats Pub for their party. I've never seen so many capsuleers gathered all in one place, and from what I understand it was a huge success for Mynxee and the Hellcats. I had an absolutely fantastic time, made even better by the fact that I somehow managed to win a Gila-class Cruiser in the raffle! I've never flown a Caldari designed ship before so I have little understanding of how they work. I have heard a rumour that the Gila will be recieving a Guristas firmware update sometime soon which will make it a very deadly combat vessel... Maybe I'll dip my toes into the world of Caldari warships when I'm done with command ships...

She smiles wryly to herself as she reaches out to touch a button on the camera drone. The bulk of the Absolution can be seen through a window behind her as the video ends.

End log.

10/20/2009

Stepping Down

Begin personal log, Tuesday October 20th, 111. Audio Only.

I've had to resign my place on the directorate. The decision was not entirely my own but Myrhial is right, I can't continue like this... There is no point in me being a director if I can't do my job properly.

A heavy sigh.

Giving up my position has been hard, I've been a director for just under a year and a half and having to quit now makes me feel like a failure. The others have been supportive, telling me that I did the best I could and that they are grateful for the work I have done, but that doesn't stop me feeling like I've lost something. I know it's for the best really... But I miss it regardless.

This of course means that I've lost a lot of my contacts in the Cartel which means I might not be able to help Celia as much as I'd hoped I could. I'll have to think of another way.

More bad news, I lost the Nova Flow a few days ago. I was in a combined Veto and Ghost Festival fleet, tracking down a group of four Ferox-class battlecruisers in Nadire. Yishal and I were in Lermireve sitting on the gate we thought they would come by, and sure enough they dropped out of warp right ontop of us. I was the first to open fire, and all four Feroxes - along with the sentry turrets - responded by firing back. Yishal called primary, but I had some trouble switching targets which resulted in my firepower being spread over two vessels. The rest of our fleet started to arrive, but we were too strung out so they turned up in dribs and drabs, with our remote-repair Dominix being the last to arrive. He didn't have time to target and repair me before I had to give the order to abandon ship, but I managed to take one of them down with me.

The fleet tore apart the remaining three Feroxes with little other difficulty. I was feeling a little dejected at the loss of the Nova Flow and most of it's crew, despite it's sacrifice allowing us to nail three battlecruisers in a row. In retrospect though I'm pleased it went down the way it did, and not to some stupid blob or gate camp. I went out again that night with the rest of the corp in the Wraith as part of a forward scouting party. We managed two kills and only one minor loss due to an honest mistake. When we got back I discovered that Repentence had replaced Nova Flow for me too, so not a bad end to the night. I must remember to repay her for that.

There is a short, thoughtful pause.

I've still not really been outside my quarters since the mutation. Morwen and Repentence came over to try and convince me to go to the Three Sisters party, but I refused. Aside from that and a meeting with Ethan to discuss my thoughts about me stepping down from the directorate, I've had almost zero social contact since I left the VCS Lucifer. Maybe I'll pay a visit to The Last Gate or something tonight if I'm feeling better about myself.

End log.

10/08/2009

Needle in a Haystack

Begin personal log, Thursday October 8th, 111. Audio Only.

I'm currently staying on Vincent's carrier, the VCS Lucifer. I've never been on a Thanatos-class before and it's a lot bigger than I thought. You can see it's Gallentean heritage everywhere, all organic flowing curves and soft lighting. It's been modified too, a big section of the crew quarters has been converted into a representation of a mansion on Luminaire. He's even installed a holographic sky and climate control systems linked to weather satellites in orbit around the planet itself... Very sentimental of him.

I'm not sure how he heard about what happened to me, but he came barging into the ward where I was being held and practically swept me up into his arms to bring me here. He didn't feel the medics at the infirmary on the CONCORD station were treating me right... It was sweet, but I'm worried he's going to get himself into trouble over it.

Anyway... Apparently he's taken it upon himself to try and find my original body. He has an entire fully-staffed astrometrics suite and science lab onboard this ship which he is hoping to use to track it down... He's called it 'Project Artemis'. Cute.

Honestly though, I think he is wasting his time. There is no way he will be able to find the body and even if he does the chances of getting a workable sample from it are tiny. Not that I'm ungrateful or anything, the fact that he is even trying means the world to me... It just seems like such a huge waste of resources.

On the upside, the mutation seems to have slowed down. It's now covering the right side of my face and chest, and I've not noticed anything new for the last three days. It looks kind of like big ugly purple tendrils of scar tissue, a bit like stretch marks I guess. My right eye though is just... disgusting. No way am I going out in public with that on show. It's all swollen and misshapen, and it... it leaks. Ugh.

There is a party this weekend at the Three Sisters club. I really want to go but I can't - not like this. The theme is 'Elegance' and... well... I don't feel very elegant right now.

End log.